Asset tracking and monitoring along a transport route

ABSTRACT

A system and computer program product for tracking and monitoring assets along a transport route. The system includes at least one receiver for receiving asset identifications transmitted from the assets, where each asset transmits its own asset identification. The receiver also receives physical location coordinates of each of the assets. A plurality of cameras is dispersed along the transport route for transmitting camera images of the assets. The system further includes a server coupled to the receiver and cameras. The server is configured to recognize the assets in the camera images, to correlate the asset identification from the receiver with recognized assets in the camera images, and to correlate the physical location coordinates of each of the assets with physical location coordinates of the cameras. The system monitors the visual appearance of the assets, and keeps track of whether or not they have sustained physical damage.

BACKGROUND

This invention relates to tracking and monitoring of assets along atransport route.

The locations of mobile objects such as cars and trucks, boxescontaining merchandise, or even persons, can be kept track of byinstalling a GPS receiver and radio transmitter on the objects, suchthat they continuously or frequently transmit their identity andgeospatial coordinates back to a centralized monitoring system (activemode), or transmit them when polled by a radio signal from the system(passive mode). However, conventional systems for tracking objects aregenerally not sufficient to be error-proof against spoofing or impostorobjects. Phony transmissions can be sent and look-alike dummies can bepresented. Thus, conventional asset-location reports typically cannot betrusted, database updates are questionable, and ultimately theinformation in the database about the assets cannot be trusted.

BRIEF SUMMARY

Accordingly, one example embodiment of the present invention is a systemfor tracking and monitoring assets along a transport route. The systemincludes at least one receiver for receiving asset identificationstransmitted from the assets, where each asset transmits its own assetidentification. The receiver also receives physical location coordinatesof each of the assets. A plurality of cameras is dispersed along thetransport route for transmitting camera images of the assets. The systemfurther includes a server coupled to the receiver and cameras. Theserver is configured to recognize the assets in the camera images, tocorrelate the asset identification from the receiver with recognizedassets in the camera images, and to correlate the physical locationcoordinates of each of the assets with physical location coordinates ofthe cameras.

Another example embodiment of the present invention is a computerprogram product for tracking and monitoring assets along a transportroute. The computer program product includes computer readable programcode configured to: receive asset identifications from the assets andphysical location coordinates of each of the assets, where each assettransmits its own asset identification; transmit camera images of theassets by a plurality of cameras dispersed along the transport route;recognize the assets in the camera images; and correlate the assetidentification with recognized assets in the camera images and thephysical location coordinates of each of the assets with physicallocation coordinates of the cameras along the transport route.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of exampleonly, with reference to the following drawings:

FIG. 1 shows a system for tracking and monitoring assets along atransport route in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 illustrates of two asset tracking scenarios contemplated by anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of an object location, verification andinspection system according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 shows a detailed example of verifying a specific object accordingto one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of verifying multiple objects according toone embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 shows a flowchart depicting a method for tracking and monitoringassets along a transport route according to one embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 7 shows a computer-readable medium encoding instructions forperforming a method for tracking and monitoring assets along a transportroute according to one embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention is described with reference to embodiments of theinvention. Throughout the description of the invention reference is madeto FIGS. 1-7. When referring to the figures, like structures andelements shown throughout are indicated with like reference numerals.

FIG. 1 shows an example system 102 for tracking and monitoring assets104 along a transport route 106 in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent invention. The system includes at least one receiver 108 forreceiving radio transmissions from the assets 104. Each transmissionfrom an asset 104 includes its unique asset identification of thatasset. The system further includes a plurality of cameras 110 dispersedalong the transport route for transmitting camera images of the assets104. The cameras 110 may be positioned at different locations along theassets' transport route 106. The system also includes a database 112that contains a plurality of database images 114 for recognition of eachof the assets 104.

A server 116 is coupled to the receiver 108, cameras 110 and database112. The server 116 may communicate with the receiver 108, cameras 110and database 112 through a computer network, such as a Local AreaNetwork (LAN) or a Wide Area Network (WAN). The server 116 is configuredto recognize the assets in the camera images using the database images114 and to correlate the asset identification from the receiver 108 withrecognized assets in the camera images. In one embodiment, the databaseimages may include images 115 for determining if the assets 104 aredamaged. Furthermore, the server 116 may be configured to send an alertif at least one of the assets 104 is determined to be damaged.

The system 102 may further include a transmitter 118 carried by each ofthe assets. The transmitter 118 is configured to transmit the uniqueasset identification of its respective asset 104. The transmitter 118may also be configured to transmit the physical location coordinates ofits respective asset 104. In a particular embodiment, each asset 104includes a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver 120 to determine theasset's physical location coordinates. In another embodiment, thetransmitter 118 is a radio-frequency identification (RFID) transmitter.In this configuration, the receiver 108 is a RFID receiver proximate oneof the cameras 110. In another embodiment, the physical locationcoordinates of each asset is determined by triangulation of the assetidentification message or other messages transmitted from the asset.

The server 116 may be configured to correlate physical locationcoordinates from each of the assets 104 with physical locationcoordinates of the cameras 110 along the transport route. The server mayfurther be configured to send an alert if at least one of the assets 104is not recognized while the asset is determined to be within a field ofview 122 of a respective camera 110. The server may also send an alertif at least one of the assets 104 is recognized while the asset isdetermined to be outside a field of view 122 of a respective camera 110.

According to one embodiment of the invention, a system includes adatabase of some mobile objects of interest (also referred to herein as“assets”), along with their locations and their appearances. The assetshave attached GPS transmitters that periodically report their positionand identity.

Turning to FIG. 2, at a given moment, there can be two subsets of theseobjects; one being those whose GPS transmitters report that they arewithin an area covered by a specific GPS position reading (horizontallystriped region 202), and the other being those objects within thefield-of-view of a video camera at that GPS location (vertically stripedregion 204). The intersection of these two regions can be divided intotwo cases, indicated by V and U. Particularly, V indicates the casewhere the objects' appearances (in the images) match with their IDs(from GPS). These objects are thus verified in the object (asset)database. In contrast, U indicates the case where the objects'appearances (in the images) do not exactly match with their IDs (fromGPS). In this case, these objects need to be inspected to ensure thatnothing is wrong with the GPS device, or the GPS device has not beenreplaced. Note that camera malfunction such as dirt on the lens, couldalso cause such mismatching. In that case, the camera may need to beinspected. However, in this embodiment, we assume that all cameras worknormally. Once the inspection is passed, the object entries in theobject/asset database will be updated with their latest visualappearances. This process is repeated over time. By these means, thedatabase of assets is maintained up-to-date.

As shown in FIG. 3, assuming that every moving object has an onboard GPSdevice which can be used to uniquely identify the object (denote it asobject O with an identity IDo), as well as reporting its physicallocation, then once it enters the area which is monitored by astationary camera, the following process and analysis can be performed.

First, based on the GPS data of the moving object, as well as the priorknowledge about the area that a particular camera can cover, we canroughly estimate if the object has entered the camera's view or not.Second, once we determine that the object with IDo has entered thatcamera's view, we proceed to detect and recognize the objects from thecaptured video. Then for each object recognized, we compare its identitywith IDo. If they are matched, then we confirm that this particularobject O has appeared at this specific location at some specific time.Otherwise, if none of the objects recognized from the video whose IDmatches with IDo, then it might be that the appearance of this objecthas been altered. A more intensive inspection would thus be needed forthis object.

On the other hand, it is also likely that from the video stream, certainobjects with specific IDs are detected and recognized, yet no suchobjects are reported by the GPS devices which are supposedly to beonboard. This could potentially mean that such objects have GPS devicesthat have been broken or detached from the objects.

FIG. 4 shows a detailed example of verifying a specific object accordingto one embodiment of the invention. As shown, once we receive an objectID from the GPS device, we first retrieve the object's visual appearancebased on such ID from the object database. Meanwhile, we obtain thevideo frame(s) that capture this object based on the object's GPSpositioning information. Next, we try to recognize and verify thisobject from the video based solely on the object's appearance. If theobject is indeed recognized, we obtain the exact location as well as theup-to-date appearance of this object, and update such information in theobject database.

Following similar logic, we can verify multiple objects at the same timeas shown in FIG. 5, as a more practical and efficient solution. Morespecifically, given a video frame, we first retrieve a list of IDs ofobjects (from GPS devices) that are within the camera's field-of-viewbased on GPS positioning data. Then the visual appearances of theseobjects are retrieved from the object database. Next, these objects arerecognized and verified, based on their appearances in the video frame.Finally, the object database is updated (if necessary) with the latestobject appearance information and their current locations.

FIG. 6 shows a flowchart depicting a method for tracking and monitoringassets along a transport route according to one embodiment of thepresent invention. The method begins at positioning step 602. Duringthis operation, cameras are positioned at different locations along theassets' transport route. The camera coverage is not required to becontinuous along the transport route. In other words, the assets do nothave to be in camera view at all times during transport. Afterpositioning step 602 is completed, the method continues to transmittingstep 604.

At transmitting step 604, each of the assets transmits its unique assetidentification. In one embodiment of the invention, the asset alsotransmits its physical location coordinates. For example, a GPS receivercarried by each of the assets may be used to determine the asset'sphysical location coordinates. In an alternate embodiment, a RFIDtransmitter may be carried by each of the assets. In this arrangement,RFID receivers are positioned proximate to one of the cameras such thatthe location coordinates of the assets are based on the position of thecameras or RFID receivers. In another embodiment, the physical locationcoordinates of each of the assets is determined by triangulatingmessages, such as the asset identification, transmitted by the assets.After transmitting step 604 is completed, the process continues toreceiving step 606.

At receiving step 606, the unique asset identification from each of theassets is received. As discussed above, the unique asset identificationmay be accompanied with the assets' physical location coordinates. Afterreceiving step 606 is completed, the process continues to transmittingstep 608.

At transmitting step 608, camera images of the assets by a plurality ofcameras dispersed along the transport route are transmitted. The cameraimages may be still images or part of a streaming video feed. Aftertransmitting step 608 is completed, the method continues to recognizingstep 610.

At recognizing step 610, the assets in the camera images are recognized.In one embodiment, the assets are recognized using database imagesstored in a database of all assets that are being tracked and monitored.For example, a server having one or more computer processors may performobject recognition by matching partial or the whole camera images to thestored database images. After recognizing step 610 is completed, themethod continues to correlating step 612.

At correlating step 612, the asset identification is correlated withrecognized assets in the camera images. In one embodiment, the physicallocation coordinates from each of the assets is correlated with physicallocation coordinates of the cameras along the transport route.

As such, tracking and managing the assets uses two modalities, both ofwhich are be generated, directly or indirectly, by the asset. Forexample, by obtaining, within a short time interval of each other amessage transmitted from one of the assets itself, which contains adeclaration of that asset's identification code, and from which messagethe location of that object can be determined, either from its contentor by triangulating its point of transmission, and (2) a visual sightingof the object, as by a video camera in the vicinity of the deducedlocation whose viewing geometry is calibrated with respect to thelocation coordinates/frame of reference of (1), the verification of theasset information can be achieved.

Thus, by combining, for instance, GPS on the asset and cameras together,a complete system that keeps track, to high precision, over a wide area,of verified assets, and manages their integrity, can be created. Inparticular, two reports in close temporal proximity, one from an asset'sGPS, reporting a location very near a camera's location, and one fromthat camera, reporting that it saw that object (or at least, an objectwhose appearance could not be distinguished from that object'spreviously known appearance), provide proof with very high certaintythat that object was at that position at that time.

If the object's appearance varies from what was expected, an analysiscan be performed to decide if it is the correct object, but damaged insome way, or a different, possibly spoofing, object. Additionally,visual sighting of an object without any corresponding GPS report, canbe used as an inspection technique, to find objects that erroneously didnot have GPS units attached to them, or whose GPS units have failed(i.e., dead battery or broken transmitter).

After correlating step 612 is completed, process flow passes to sendingoperation 614. In one embodiment, an alert is sent if at least one ofthe assets is not recognized while the asset is determined to be withina field of view of a respective camera. An alert may also be sent if atleast one of the assets is recognized while the asset's physicallocation is determined to be outside a field of view of a respectivecamera from the plurality of cameras. An alert may also be sent if atleast one of the assets is determined to be damaged based on databaseimages.

FIG. 7 shows a computer-readable medium 702, such as a CDROM, encodinginstructions for performing a method for tracking and monitoring assetsalong a transport route 704 according to one embodiment of the presentinvention.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the presentinvention may be embodied as a system, method or computer programproduct. Accordingly, aspects of the present invention may take the formof an entirely hardware embodiment of the invention, an entirelysoftware embodiment (including firmware, resident software, micro-code,etc.) or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects that mayall generally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module” or“system.” Furthermore, aspects of the present invention may take theform of a computer program product embodied in one or more computerreadable medium(s) having computer readable program code embodiedthereon.

Any combination of one or more computer readable medium(s) may beutilized. The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signalmedium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readablestorage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic,magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system,apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. Morespecific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer readablestorage medium would include the following: an electrical connectionhaving one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, arandom access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasableprogrammable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber,a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storagedevice, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. In the context of this document, a computer readable storagemedium may be any tangible medium that can contain, or store a programfor use by or in connection with an instruction execution system,apparatus, or device.

A computer readable signal medium may include a propagated data signalwith computer readable program code embodied therein, for example, inbaseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated signal may takeany of a variety of forms, including, but not limited to,electromagnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. Acomputer readable signal medium may be any computer readable medium thatis not a computer readable storage medium and that can communicate,propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with aninstruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

Program code embodied on a computer readable medium may be transmittedusing any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless,wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination ofthe foregoing.

Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of thepresent invention may be written in any combination of one or moreprogramming languages, including an object oriented programming languagesuch as Java, Smalltalk, C++ or the like and conventional proceduralprogramming languages, such as the “C” programming language or similarprogramming languages. The program code may execute entirely on theuser's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alonesoftware package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remotecomputer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latterscenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computerthrough any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or awide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an externalcomputer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet ServiceProvider).

Aspects of the present invention are described below with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer program instructions. These computer program instructions maybe provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, specialpurpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus toproduce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via theprocessor of the computer or other programmable data processingapparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified inthe flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computerreadable medium that can direct a computer, other programmable dataprocessing apparatus, or other devices to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer readablemedium produce an article of manufacture including instructions whichimplement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer,other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to causea series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, otherprogrammable apparatus or other devices to produce a computerimplemented process such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer or other programmable apparatus provide processes forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof code, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be notedthat, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in theblock may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, twoblocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantiallyconcurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverseorder, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be notedthat each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, andcombinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchartillustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-basedsystems that perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations ofspecial purpose hardware and computer instructions.

The descriptions of the various embodiments of the present inventionhave been presented for purposes of illustration, but are not intendedto be exhaustive or limited to the embodiments disclosed. Manymodifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skillin the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the describedembodiments. The terminology used herein was chosen to best explain theprinciples of the embodiments, the practical application or technicalimprovement over technologies found in the marketplace, or to enableothers of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodimentsdisclosed herein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for tracking and monitoring assets alonga transport route, the system comprising: at least one receiver forreceiving asset identifications transmitted from the assets and physicallocation coordinates of each of the assets, where each asset transmitsits own asset identification; a plurality of cameras dispersed along thetransport route for transmitting camera images of the assets; a servercoupled to the at least one receiver and cameras, the server configuredto recognize the assets in the camera images, to correlate the assetidentification from the receiver with recognized assets in the cameraimages, and to correlate the physical location coordinates of each ofthe assets with physical location coordinates of the cameras.
 2. Thesystem of claim 1, further comprising a transmitter carried by each ofthe assets, the transmitter configured to transmit the unique assetidentification.
 3. The system of claim 2, wherein the transmitter isfurther configured to transmit its physical location coordinates.
 4. Thesystem of claim 3, further comprising a Global Positioning System (GPS)receiver carried by each of the assets to determine the asset's physicallocation coordinates.
 5. The system of claim 2, wherein the transmitteris a radio-frequency identification (RFID) transmitter.
 6. The system ofclaim 5, wherein the at least one receiver is a radio-frequencyidentification (RFID) receiver proximate to one of the cameras.
 7. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the physical location coordinates of each ofthe assets is determined by triangulation of messages transmitted fromthe assets.
 8. The system of claim 1, wherein the cameras are positionedat different locations along the assets' transport route.
 9. The systemof claim 1, wherein the server is further configured to send an alert ifat least one of the assets is not recognized while the asset isdetermined to be within a field of view of a respective camera from theplurality of cameras.
 10. The system of claim 1, wherein the server isfurther configured to send an alert if at least one of the assets isrecognized while the asset is determined to be outside a field of viewof a respective camera from the plurality of cameras.
 11. The system ofclaim 1, further comprising: wherein the plurality of database imagesinclude images for determining if the assets are damaged; and whereinthe server is further configured to send an alert if at least one of theassets is determined to be damaged.
 12. The system of claim 1, furthercomprising: a database including a plurality of database images forrecognition of each of the assets; and wherein the server is configuredto recognize the assets in the camera images using the database images.13. A computer program product for tracking and monitoring assets alonga transport route, the computer program product comprising: a computerreadable storage medium having computer readable program code embodiedtherewith, the computer readable program code configured to: receiveasset identifications from the assets and physical location coordinatesof each of the assets, where each asset transmits its own assetidentification; transmit camera images of the assets by a plurality ofcameras dispersed along the transport route; recognize the assets in thecamera images; and correlate the asset identification with recognizedassets in the camera images and the physical location coordinates ofeach of the assets with physical location coordinates of the camerasalong the transport route.
 14. The computer program product of claim 13,further comprising computer readable program code configured to transmitby each of the assets the unique asset identification.
 15. The computerprogram product of claim 14, further comprising computer readableprogram code configured to transmit by each of the assets physicallocation coordinates of the asset.
 16. The computer program product ofclaim 13, further comprising computer readable program code configuredto correlate physical location coordinates from each of the assets withphysical location coordinates of the cameras along the transport route.17. The computer program product of claim 13, further comprisingcomputer readable program code configured to send an alert if at leastone of the assets is not recognized while the asset is determined to bewithin a field of view of a respective camera from the plurality ofcameras.
 18. The computer program product of claim 13, furthercomprising computer readable program code configured to send an alert ifat least one of the assets is recognized while the asset is determinedto be outside a field of view of a respective camera from the pluralityof cameras.
 19. The computer program product of claim 13, furthercomprising: wherein the plurality of database images include images fordetermining if the assets are damaged; and computer readable programcode configured to send an alert if at least one of the assets isdetermined to be damaged.
 20. The computer program product of claim 13,further comprising: computer readable program code configured to storedatabase images of the assets in a database; and wherein the assets inthe camera images are recognized using the database images.